Jo Kroekerhttps://www.greenwichtime.com/author/jo-kroeker/
https://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Greenwich-Academy-graduates-urged-to-face-their-13885212.php
article13885212
GREENWICH — Radhika Jones, editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair, has faced down many challenges that scared her, like editing a piece written by Oprah Winfrey, she told the Greenwich Academy’s Class of 2019 at commencement exercises Thursday afternoon.

But none was so fearsome as starting her teaching career with the most challenging students: apathetic college freshmen who did not want to be in her required composition class.

“Take notes,” she joked to the 84 graduating seniors at the independent all-girls school in Greenwich.

After 29 years, Jones returned to her alma mater to deliver the graduation address under a tent set up on campus. She was introduced by valedictorian Anisha Laumas, who will attend Harvard University this fall.

Laumas smiled as a wave of deafening applause and whoops crashed over her. A Greenwich Academy “lifer,” she led the GA robotics club and helped edit Daedalus, just like the commencement speaker she introduced.

“We are so happy to have her back today,” Laumas said of Jones.

Like Laumas, Jones was involved in Daedalus, the school’s art and literary magazine. Like Laumas, she attended Harvard University. She also completed her doctorate at Columbia University.

“Endings and beginnings can sneak up on you, and both transitions aren’t always marked with flowers and songs,” Jones said, referencing the song-filled ceremony and yellow roses the girls, dressed in long white dresses, hold while processing in, which they exchange for bouquets at the conclusion.

Jones commended the girls for their accomplishments, grace and humility.

“The world needs leaders who are women,” she said.

But the road ahead will be unmarked...

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Thu, 23 May 2019 23:41:31 UThttps://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Retired-Supreme-Court-justice-addresses-graduates-13876817.php
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GREENWICH — Prominent speakers at commencements are not a rarity in town, but Brunswick School outdid even Greenwich’s history when graduates and their families learned that retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy would be delivering the address at Wednesday’s ceremony.

The school kept the speaker’s identity under robes until the graduation, when attendees opened their programs for the independent school’s 117th commencement exercises.

In the Dann Gymnasium, Kennedy, 82, greeted the 100 members of the Class of 2019, including his great-nephew, Timothy Kennedy Saunders, as he took the podium for his speech.

“Remember: Know your history and traditions,” Kennedy told the assembled students, parents, staff and friends from beneath the backdrop of a painting of the Brunswick Bruin climbing from a giant brown-and-gold B.

Kennedy told the graduating seniors that they are responsible for safe-guarding the traditions of Brunswick School, their families and the United States. The school has a history of alumni who fought wars for freedom; the family is where young people learn respect; and the nation has a tradition of outlining and enshrining its citizens’ freedoms, he said.

Nominated to the high court by President Ronald Reagan, Kennedy served from Feb. 18, 1988, until his retirement on July 31, 2018. He was succeeded by his former law clerk, Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation hearings made headlines.

In a speech sprinkled with references to Aristotle, the Founding Fathers and Alfred Tennyson, Kennedy told the graduates civility and democracy are at stake in our nation.

“We must show (the world) that we are capable of having a discussion, that we can have a consensus, a dialogue that...

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Wed, 22 May 2019 23:46:31 UThttps://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Greenwich-lawyer-faces-8-to-14-months-in-prison-13867413.php
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BOSTON — Disgraced Greenwich lawyer Gordon Caplan wants the world to know one thing: His daughter did not know he was breaking the law to boost her score on the ACT exam.

“I’m deeply ashamed. I’m terribly sorry,” Caplan said Tuesday afternoon outside the courtroom after pleading guilty to a federal charge of cheating on her behalf. “I’m really sorry for my daughter, who I love more than anything in the world. She knew nothing about this. She hasn’t even applied to college yet.”

He also apologized to high schoolers everywhere going through the college admissions process. “It’s a public penance, helping them and supporting them.”

During his court appearance, Caplan entered his guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud for paying $75,000 to a fake charity to have his daughter’s answers to be corrected on her ACT exam.

Prosecutors recommended that the 53-year-old Greenwich lawyer serve eight to 14 months in federal prison, pay a $40,000 fine and complete 12 months of supervised release. Caplan, the former co-chairman of international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher in Manhattan, will be sentenced Oct. 3.

Under the charge, Caplan pleaded guilty to using U.S. mail services to attempt to defraud ACT Inc. of his daughter’s real exam and score, which...

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Tue, 21 May 2019 22:13:35 UThttps://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Greenwich-school-board-to-get-update-on-Cardinal-13847360.php
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GREENWICH — Now that the Representative Town Meeting has approved Greenwich’s municipal budget for 2019-20, school district officials will update the Board of Education on the status of the Cardinal Stadium project at a meeting Thursday.

The RTM approved $3.9 million to replace the bleachers and press box at Greenwich High School — phase one of a $21-million, multiphase project to upgrade and expand the facilities surrounding the football field. The school board meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Hamilton Avenue School.

Interim Superintendent of Public Schools Ralph Mayo closed the home-side bleachers a month ago after the Town of Greenwich Building Department and engineering firm Team DTC declared the bleachers “dangerous and unsafe.” The review came after a visiting parent had reported a potential safety concern regarding the visitor-side bleachers, which were not found to be unsafe.

Advocates have long said the stadium is over-due for upgrades. This year, BOE members and the Greenwich Athletic Foundation redoubled their calls to upgrade the facilities, starting with money to fix the bleachers.

After Mayo announced that the bleachers would be closed, administrators decided seniors will commence at Cardinal...

Caplan will appear in federal court in Boston alongside Napa Valley vintner Agustin Huneeus Jr., another parent indicted in the notorious case in which 50 people charged, to officially enter his guilty plea.

Huffman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud for paying $15,000 to a fake charity for her daughter’s answers to be corrected on her SAT exam. She pleaded alongside parent David Sloane, who paid $250,000 to get his son into University of Southern California as a water polo recruit even though he did not play the sport.

She will be sentenced Sept. 13, but prosecutors recommended Huffman, an Emmy-winning star of “Desperate Housewives,” pay a $20,000 fine and serve four to 10 months behind bars. For Sloane, they recommended he pay a $75,000 fine and spend 12 months and one day in prison when sentenced Sept. 10. The maximum penalty is 20 years in prison.

“My daughter has been seeing a neuropsychologist since she was 8 years old,” Huffman said.

Caplan and Huneeus are scheduled to appear before federal Judge Indira Talwani on May 21. They are expected to plead...

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Mon, 13 May 2019 20:03:43 UThttps://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Look-inside-the-demolition-of-the-old-New-Lebanon-13825568.php
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GREENWICH — Four months after students moved into their new New Lebanon School, abatement and demolition has begun on the old building.

So far, Gilbane, the construction company, has completed a temporary gravel parking lot, erected construction fencing and completed hazardous abatement, according to the Greenwich School district.

Demolition of some parts of the building has begun as part of the abatement process.

Punch-list work for finishing details in the new school building will be scheduled for after school hours or on Saturdays, the school district said.

The project has received its fourth reimbursement from the state, $3,495,815, for a grand total of $15,738,167 to date. A fifth reimbursement has been requested in the amount of $2,932,368, due this May. The total price tag for the new building is $37.3 million.

New Lebanon, an elementary International Baccalaureate magnet school for students from preschool to fifth grade, was built to accommodate a population in the school attendance area that had outgrown the walls of its old school. The additional space also provides for preschool classes and magnet seats, two components of the district racial balance plan.

For years, the state Department of Education has cited the school for the racial imbalance in the student body, with a population of minority students that far exceeds the population of white students.

The next generation school, equipped with flexible furniture and state-of-the-art technology, allows students to learn in many kinds of environments. The...

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Tue, 7 May 2019 15:59:23 UThttps://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Brunswick-students-urge-others-to-get-outdoors-13820980.php
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GREENWICH — Brunswick School junior Peter Lehrman readily admits how hard it is to drown out the siren song of a blue screen or a video game — even he is not immune to spending hours on his phone.

But he also believes that people can draw on nature to resist the temptations of gadgets. “Technology is taking over our lives, but nature has more to offer us than technology does,” Lehrman said.

This year, he started the Brunswick Conservation Corps to encourage kids to profit from the outdoors while improving their surroundings, by connecting them with volunteer opportunities, such as maintaining trails or cleaning up shorelines, through local environmental groups.

One of the corps’ most recent events will provide internships to a handful of Brunswick students this summer at Audubon Greenwich. Members designed T-shirts and sold them to Brunswick and Greenwich Academy students, raising more than $8,000 in one school day. The fundraising idea came from fellow student William Gregory and his mother, Kim Gregory, who is member of Greenwich Grown, a consortium of garden clubs and conservation groups.

This is the first time a club and a local organization teamed up to help Audubon Greenwich, said Audubon Center Director Eli Schaffer. The organization will use the money to pay a few Brunswick students to maintain its trails over the summer.

“We are absolutely thrilled about this internship donation,” Schaffer said. “To see them roll up their sleeves and make it happen so that we could afford to get this work done is encouraging.”

Some years, Audubon Greenwich has five college interns, and other seasons, it does not have any. The fundraiser demonstrated to Schaffer that Audubon is “absolutely doing the right...

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Sun, 5 May 2019 21:08:47 UThttps://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Greenwich-schools-communications-director-takes-13814791.php
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GREENWICH — Greenwich Country Day School has acquired another Greenwich Public Schools administrator as it prepares to add a high school this fall: Director of Communications Kimberley Eves.

Eves’ snow-day emails brought joy to students and caused parents to change their plans. Her annual Community Service Awards brought together past and present administrators to recognize stellar students who give back. Eves, a district veteran of nearly two decades, is the face behind the district’s new website, its community engagement efforts and its communications during crises.

“For almost 19 years, the Greenwich Public Schools has provided me with a wonderful opportunity to combine my passions for communications and education in a career path that I love,” Eves said. “During my time with the Greenwich Public Schools I have had the opportunity to work with and forge friendships with some of the most intelligent, caring, hard-working and dedicated people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.”

“I have a rare opportunity to take on a new and exciting challenge at Greenwich Country Day School as they launch a new high school after over 90 years as a nursery through...

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Thu, 2 May 2019 22:01:08 UThttps://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Greenwich-Catholic-team-makes-a-splash-with-13814476.php
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GREENWICH — Three eighth-graders at Greenwich Catholic School just made choosing the best sunscreen this summer into an easy science-based process.

The girls, Emily Cook, Catherine May and Carmelia Zuniga, also won the “Science Lab” program on “CBS News Sunday Morning.” On the TV segment, they presented their project — dubbed “Factor Fiction: A Sunny Project” — which studied the effectiveness of different SPF levels to find the optimal level for sun protection.

Altice USA sponsors the contest with CBS to support STEM skill development, one of the company’s key pillars. The team was awarded a $500 prize, and Greenwich Catholic School received $2,000, which will be used to purchase new equipment for the Upper School Science Lab.

The team’s “Factor Fiction” project combined practical science and technology, using UV beads and a UV light to research, analyze and complete their findings, said Carol Ann Lutz, an Upper School science teacher.

“Our students have a tradition of excelling at the CT State Science and Engineering Fair, and I’m thrilled that their efforts received such a well-deserved recognition,” Lutz said.

During an assembly Thursday morning, Principal Patrice Kopas congratulated Cook, May and Zuniga.

“These young women found an innovative way to problem-solve using critical thinking, which is at the core of our Science curriculum,” Kopas said.

For high school, Cook will attend King School in Stamford, May will attend School of the Holy Child in Rye, N.Y., and Zuniga will attend Greenwich Country Day School.

GREENWICH — Five customers of Eversource remain without power Wednesday night.

Estimated restoration has been pushed to 10 p.m.

UPDATE: 8:45 P.M.

GREENWICH — There are five Eversource Energy customers still without power in Greenwich Wednesday night.

Estimated restoration time is by 9:30 p.m., Eversource said.

UPDATE 6:30 P.M.

GREENWICH — A total of 43 customers were without power Wednesday evening in Greenwich, according to Eversource.

The number of customers went up and down throughout the afternoon and evening. At about 2:30 p.m., 852 customers were without power in town. By 3:30 p.m., most of the outages had been restored with only nine customers still without power in Greenwich, according to Eversource.

Most of the outages were blamed on a tree that fell on wires on Riversville Road, closing it to traffic while repair and restoration work was completed. The road was closed between Pecksland Road and Sherwood Avenue.

Greenwich Town Hall, which was in the dark for about an hour, reopened Wednesday evening for previously scheduled meetings.

UPDATE 4:15 P.M.

GREENWICH — Eversource reported that electricity was being restored across Greenwich on Wednesday afternoon after hundreds lost power.

Originally, 852 customers were reported without power earlier in the afternoon. But as of 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, only nine customers were still in the dark, Eversource said.

Eversource spokesman Frank Poirot said he expected service to be completely restored soon.

The outages were caused by a tree falling onto wires on Riversville Road, Poirot said. He said it was not...